Floyd Mayweather: ‘It was always one of my dreams to fight in New York’

FLOYD MAYWEATHER has admitted that he always wanted to fight in New York as he spoke up the super-middleweight unification fight between James DeGale and Badou Jack which will take place in Brooklyn.

IBF champion DeGale and WBC champion Jack will meet at the Barclays Center in New York on January 14, with Mayweather co-promoting the event alongside Loe DiBella.

Though the former pound for pound supremo never fought as a professional in the Big Apple, he hopes to bring more boxing there as a promoter.

“We’re back. What other better city to be in, than New York City? It was always one of my dreams to fight in New York City. I’m glad I’m in a position to put fighters out there to give the fans what they want to see. New York City is the best place for boxing,” he said.

“We’re here in New York and we want to bring boxing to New York City. This is one of the meccas of boxing. The whole state has embraced me throughout my career.

“We want to continue to do fights in this arena and bring championship boxing to New York City. We want to give you great shows again and again.”

The future of boxing in New York has been thrown into doubt in recent weeks after the state brought in new insurance rules which require promoters to put up obscene amounts of money to cover their shows.

DiBella initially decried the decision and claimed it would prevent anymore boxing from happening in New York, and he is now calling on fans to support this card and help reverse the commission’s decision.

“Fans should go out and buy their tickets once they go on sale. There is going to be a show here on January 14. We have lawyers and insurance people on it and we will pay what needs to be paid,” he said.

“This announcement not only represents a fight announcement, but a call to action to all boxing fans. Boxing needs your help in New York. We need to change or repeal this law that has really shut us down. Even if we can get really expensive insurance for January 14, the small promoters and small fights and grassroots boxing have come to a standstill.

“It also represents boxing trying to take its rightful place back. We’re not sitting back in 2017 and letting our industry be brought to a halt. We’re going ahead and announcing January 14. But we need everyone’s help with respect to making the necessary changes to allow our sport to thrive in this space again.”